http://www.frontallabs.com/nfrontal/web/featuresmore.asp?sno=694
Kit Chan & Case Woo: A Dream Collaboration
Interviews, 27 Oct 2002
A new album release by 2 of Singapore's best talents, singer
/songwriter Kit Chan and electronica producer extraordinaire
Case Woo, is propelling the existence of our local dance music
scene to new heights.
Frontallabs.com finds how 2 musicians from seemingly different
backgrounds came together to create what may be the most
groundbreaking album in Singapore's electronic music history yet.
==============================================
Frontallabs: Kit, how did you end up doing an album of this
nature since you are most well known for your pop ballads?
Kit: Ok, most of my famous tracks are all ballads but if you
listen carefully, I had already begun experimenting in my second
album which incidentally, was the first time I worked with Case.
Kit: Throughout my career, I’ve always liked to experiment and
try different things with music. But the turning point came when
the opportunity arrived and I’ve always wanted to do an album
which was very ambient. And this opportunity surfaced when I
switched record labels.
Kit: On top of that, I’ve always been an optimist and I think
it’s the right time for me to this now rather than 10 years
ago. Mainly because I believe I have matured enough as an artist
and a person, and especially as a vocalist. Because when you do
a chillout or ambient album, your have to sound detached, yet in
tune with the mood. Something which I don’t think I’ll be able
to achieve 10 years ago.
Frontallabs: Were there any influences to prepare you for
recording this album?
Kit: Ok, well right from the start Case and I already had similar
tastes in music.
Frontallabs: I wouldn’t have guessed that judging by the
direction of yours and Case’s musical careers.
Kit: Yeah, well, because along the way, Case became a lot more
advanced and he went on to things which were a little different
from what I was doing.
Kit: But nonetheless, we started out listening to stuff from
the Cocteau Twins, Sarah MacLachlan, Sinead O’Connor and stuff
like that which were very ambient.
Kit: We already had a common foundation and though we listen
to different things, we have always met on a certain level,
which is sweet, soulful songs that has atmosphere.
Frontallabs: Excellent! Ok, moving on to the next question.
Your album, “Dreamscape” has many song titles with the word
“Dream” in them. Is there any significance behind this?
Kit: Haha! Ok Case, I think you should answer this.
Case: Ok, I was familiar with the track “Dreams” and I’m a
lso familiar with the track “Cosmic Dreams”. And we remembered
that a long time ago, we did this track called “Lonesome Dreamer”
and we wanted to remix that. So I said to Kit,
“Wah Lau, we have a lot of tracks with the word “Dream” in them.
So why not make it into a theme, a concept, based around dreams?”
Case: But not only that, this album is my dream project. Kit and
I have always dreamed of collaborating. So when we were coming up
with names for this album, “Dreamscape” kinda covered what we
were doing. The mood, the vibe and the direction of the album.
Frontallabs: Ok, but were there any relations to dreams you both
had as children and that you wanted to make them come true in this
album?
Kit: Ok, for me, it is a childhood thing, I’ve always been a
hopeless dreamer ever since I was a kid. I dream in the day, I
dream in the night. So when I write songs, somehow or rather,
the word “Dream” always turns up! It got to a point where Case
said, “Stop it Kit! No more dreams! No more!” So I said,
“Fine, I’ll come up with a song called ‘No More Dreams’.”
Case: Yeah, and I offered to do a “Nightmare Remix” if she
ever wrote it. (case)
Kit: Ha ha.
Frontallabs: We'd love to hear that remix. OK Kit, there are
quite a number of electronica producers in Singapore, why did
you choose to work with Case for this album?
Kit: Well, it starts with the fact that we’ve been friends for
a long time y’know?
Frontallabs: And that developes a sort of chemistry?
Case: That’s right!
Kit: You see, Case has his other thumping, heavy thing which I
don’t like but yet when we are working together, we are able
to meet on a certain level.
Kit: For example, we recorded “Echoes” (a track in the album)
with just a beat, and I didn’t know what he was going to do
with the song. But he told me that he was going to add…What
was it again?
Case: A little bit of afro-beat, mainly percussion.
Kit: Yeah, and that was beautiful! When I sang it, there was
no music, he simply gave me a metronome and went “Dong!” (
Kit is gesturing striking a metronome) and said “Sing!”.
Kit: And so he took that and went to work and when he came
back with it, I loved it so much! If he were doing this with
someone else, I’m sure it would sound very different from
how it does now.
Frontallabs: With the diversity of both your musical tastes,
were there any disagreements while making the album?
Kit: I don’t recall…do you?
Case: Well, Kit basically left it all to me. Kit had the lyrics a
nd Tse Shao had the tune, so I put the two together and added in
my interpretations.
Frontallabs: Any memorable incidents during the recording?
Case: Memorable? Ok, when Tse Shao put the tune to this particular
song, the timing was completely out!
Case: You can’t put a 4/4 beat to it! It’s very frustrating!
It’s got no bars! Sometimes it goes 1, 2, 3, other times it goes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I had to make it sure it all went 1, 2, 3, 4. If
you try to put a song like that together, you’ll go nuts because
it is so hard to compose and program! So yeah, it was memorable
for me because I had such a hard time doing that particular song.
Kit: As for me, it was memorable because of how interactive it
was to work on this album. In the past, I used to work in a very
systematic way.
Kit: We would listen to whole lot of demos, pick out the ones that
worked, and we would then give them out to different people to be
arranged. It comes back in an instrumental bit, and I sing over it.
Full stop.
Kit: So I’m always the last to come in and I’ve never realized
how limiting it has been till I worked on this album with Case.
Kit: For example, sometimes I would just be the voice and Case
would put the music around it and vice versa. If I felt that the
vocals didn’t work really well with the rest of the track, I could
re-record the vocals again, or even drop in ad-libbed stuff. And
this process gave me so much more freedom to express myself.
Frontallabs: So Kit, since you've just released an album slanted
towards electronica. I have to ask you this: How in tune are you
with our local dance music scene?
Kit: I’m sorry, but I’m totally out of it because I’ve never
really been a big fan of dance/electronic music. I’m ashamed to
say this.
Kit: But you know what, Case changed my conceptions of dance music.
For the longest time, I was like, “No! No! Not that thumping
noise again!” and my idea of dance music was just loud noises!
But then, Case introduced to me stuff like deep house, trip-hop
and trance…
Case: Hey, I never introduced you to trance!
Kit: Yeah, you did! Remember this track you created for me for my
birthday? That was trance wasn’t it?
Case: Oh yeah, it was a trancey breakbeat track…
Kit: Yeah! You forgot! He made it for me and I liked it. Basically
I like stuff that’s slower and more melodious.
Case: Yeah, but I’ll slowly influence her with the other stuff
that’s playing these days.
Kit: We’ll see what happens.
Frontallabs: Having been a mainstream diva, how does crossing
over to a more experimental soundscape affect your feelings and
attitude when recording this album?
Kit: Well, in the past, out of 10 tracks in an album, I would say
there might have been 2 tracks which I absolutely detest. But I
still had to go ahead and record it because of political reasons.
Frontallabs: Such as?
Kit: Well , such as if the song was written by some famous guy.
My producer would sometimes say to me, “Kit, can you not let me
hear it in your voice that you hate this song so much?” But it
was a problem for me because I sing from the heart and it gets
really difficult for me to sing something I’m not really that
fond of.
Kit: As far as my attitude goes, it has not changed. I’ll always
try to sing to the best of my abilities and my feelings.
Kit: But technically, it changed a lot and I felt a lot more free.
Before, I had to follow what was given to me and sometimes that
just isn’t what you’re suppose to do. But now, I can do whatever
I want!
Kit: For example, when I write a particular song and I feel that
the words just don’t go, I can just switch it without having to
make phone calls to get approval.
Frontallabs: To our last question. Is this a one-off project? Or
can we be expecting similar releases to Dreamscape?
Case: Definitely not! We are actually working on the next one
already. I…
Kit: Don’t reveal too much though! Ok, go on. But I’ll tell
you when to stop.
Case: Ok, basically, the next album will be towards the same
direction (as Dreamscape) but I’ll be pushing the envelope a
little bit more on the next one. In the sense that it goes
deeper, it goes tighter and it gets infused with more elements
of dance music and electronica.
Case: But at the same time, I’ll still be in touch with melodies.
I’ll still be in touch with Kit’s feelings. I won’t stray from
that.
Kit: As for me, all I can say is Watch Out For It!
Frontallabs.com salutes Case and Kit for their beliefs and passion.
Not many are brave enough to walk this path they have taken. Respects!
Stay tuned for our review of "Dreamscape" by Kit Chan and Case Woo.
Out in stores now.
Shout out to Kelvin Tan for co-ordinating this interview.
Author: Feng
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